Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Harrison Ford has had one of the longest, most successful film careers of any man in Hollywood. His popular roles in movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, Frantic, Witness, Air Force One, Patriot Games, and The Fugtive have proved that as an actor he can do ANYTHING --adventure, romantic comedy, political thriller, murder mystery, etc. etc. And no matter what movie Ford is in, you can be pretty sure it's going to be good. And if it's not "good good," it'll definately be entertaining. And totally worth the price of your ticket, plus movie nachos, plus a large diet coke.

But Harrison can't keep on going forever. Even though he is in that new movie Firewall, which I'm looking forward to seeing, I am guessing that his days of playing the adventurous and crafty loverboy are numbered. We need a new Harrison Ford. A young, Bladerunner-era replacement Ford so that we can count on another 30 years of really good movies. But who is out there? Who will take his place? All the guys out there now are lame. Matt Damon? Those spy movies were OK, I guess. And his done his lawyer movies. They were alright. But somehow he just doesn't seem to measure up.

Can anybody think of who will be the new Harrison Ford?

Posted by
Jenny

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

When Ben Affleck was cast as Jack Ryan in Sum of All Fears, it seemed like he was the heir apparent, but Affleck just doesn't have the same type of screen charisma. He's just flat-out boring to watch. And Damon, he's just as bad. Basically, what were talking about here is a modern-day Cary Grant type, and the only person I can think of who comes close to that type of actor is George Clooney--but there's one problem with clooney: he's already going gray.

Anon. hit the nail on the head. The problem is that actors who have done enough movies to show they have Harrison's staying power are already too old to be "the next" but the young ones haven't done enough for us to see if they can actually pull off a Harrison-esque run.

The other problem is that I can think of actors who are likeable, or cool, or hunky, but not so much one who is likeable AND cool AND hunky...

My final thought is that the closest heir-apparent was Tom Cruise, but turning into a zealot for a freaky religious cult means you're instantly DQ'd. It's obviously way creepier than dating Calista Flockheart.

Hugh Jackman is a good call, Jean -- he has shown he's good in an action role and also starred opposite Ashley Judd.

But I feel like he's a little lacking in the personality department.

I'm not actually so sure that Harrison Ford has that much personality, but I think it was his roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones that give that impression.

HEY! What about Christian Bale? He's just set himself up as the new Batman, and I think a sequel-type movie role is kind of critical to fill Harrison's shoes...plus he's kind of hunky. Not sure I've seen him do much lighter stuff, though. But I did LOVE him in Laurel Canyon, a movie I quite enjoy even though it's kind of about nothing.

PLUS the bonus "have to love him" points for Christan Bale are that his dad was an environmental activist who married Gloria Steinem...

I'd suggest Viggo Mortensen. He can act, is quite sexy and a believable action here (see any Lord of the Rings movie). The only draw back is that he is so unassuming in public, but I think his presence on-screen makes up for that.